Tariffs on the select Chinese exports were raised from 10 percent to 25 percent overnight, resulting in a plummeting stock market and a promise from Beijing to impose retaliatory tariffs of its own.

“China deeply regrets that the US has decided to increase the tariffs from 10 per cent to 25 per cent on US$200 billion worth of China goods exported to the United States,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement following the tariff hike.

“We’ll have no choice but to take the necessary countermeasures,” the statement added.

President Trump took to Twitter Friday to signal that he may leave the tariffs in place for quite some time.

“Talks with China continue in a very congenial manner – there is absolutely no need to rush,” the president said in one of his tweets.

North Korea again commences missile tests following long hiatus

The regime that rules North Korea has started to test-fire short-range missiles, following relative calm through the course of the Trump administration.

On Thursday, the South Korean military reported seeing Pyongyang test-firing projectiles into the sea, marking a significant escalation from a regime that was once in discussions about denuclearization.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has pledged to keep his military in “full-combat posture,” according to North Korean state media, which released photos of Kim watching the military exercises that occurred this week.

President Trump was not particularly amused with the North Korean saber-rattling, but remained open to further negotiations.

“They were smaller missiles, they’re short range missiles,” President Trump told reporters. “Nobody’s happy about it, but we’re taking a good look and we’ll see, we’ll see. The relationship continues, but we’ll see what happens.”

Guaido says he would ‘probably accept’ US military intervention in Venezuela

Venezuela opposition leader or interim president, depending upon your politics and views on the situation unfolding in Caracas, Juan Guaido continues to consider the possibility of American military intervention in his country.

In an interview with the Italian publication La Stampa, Guaido said he would “probably accept” U.S. military intervention intended to topple socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro.

“If the Americans were to propose a military intervention I would probably accept it,” Guaido said, according to a translation by The Telegraph.

Iranian regime offers cold response to POTUS’ ‘call me’ outreach

The regime that rules Iran is thoroughly rejecting any notion of diplomacy with the United States, following President Trump’s offer to negotiate with the mullahs this week.

“There will be no negotiations with America,” a top Iranian general raged, according to one of its state-run media outfits, Fox News reported Friday.

Trump said Thursday at the White House, commenting on the newly imposed sanctions against the Tehran regime: “What I would like to see with Iran, I would like to see them call me.”

The Trump administration has sent some serious firepower to maintain a presence off of Iran’s coast, following reported U.S. intelligence picking up information on a terrorist threat originating from Iran and its terrorist proxies.

Sec. Pompeo to meet with Putin in Russia next week

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet face to face with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week in Sochi, Russia, the State Department said in a press release Friday.

While in Sochi, he will also meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The parties will discuss “the full range of bilateral and multilateral challenges,” the State Department said.

Secretary Pompeo will also lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Russia. The landmark commemorates the Soviet soldiers who perished during World War II, when the U.S. and Soviet Union struck an alliance to defeat Nazi Germany. (For more from the author of “Trump Fires First Shot in U.S.-China Trade War” please click HERE)